Louis tuenbeegbe



(No Model.)

L. TURNBERGER.

METALLIC FENCE POST.

No. 373,621. Patented Nov; 22, 1887.

I a Q Fig.4.

WITNESSES: INVBNTOR:

- mg f4 BY Mm g ATTORNEYS.

N Finns Phnto-Lnhogmphcr. Washmgmu D. C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS TURNBERGER, OF NEW YORK,

N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, JOHN' SHRADY, OF SAME PLACE, AND JOHN P. MERN, OF BROOKLYN, NE\V YORK.

METALLIC FENCE=POST'.

SPECIPICATIONiorming part of Letters Patent No. 373,621, dated November 22, 1887.

(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LoUIs TURNBERGER, of the city, county, and State of New York. have invented a new and Improved Metallic Fence- Post, of which the following is a full, clear,

and exact description.

My invention relates to fence-posts, and has for its object to provide a simple, light, and durable post of this character, which may be IO easily and cheaply made and set up, and will afford a strong support for the wire or other longitudinal stringers or rails of a fence.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts of the fence-post, all as hereinafter described and claimed. 4

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figu res.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the fencepost with the post proper and its base or ground plate partly broken away and in section on the line 00 m, Fig. 3, and illustrates how the post is set in the ground. Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the ground-plate of the post. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the groundplate. Fig. at is a perspective view of the lower part of the fence-post proper as it appears when driven into the ground; and Fig. 5 is a transverse section through the post and on the line y y in Fig. 1.

The fence post consists, mainly, of two parts-the post proper, A, and its base or 5 ground plate B. The post A is a metal tube or pipe which at its lower end is provided with slots extending from its extremity upward about two feet. I prefer to make three of these slots, thereby dividing the foot of the 0 post into three parts or tongues, a a a, which when spread outward at the bottom form prongs which enter the ground O and prevent lifting of the post therefrom. The groundplate B is preferably made round in general 5 form, with its upper face raised toward the center, where it is the thickest, and this plate is provided at its bottom and margin with aseries of prongs, 1), preferably three in number, as shown, and which enter the ground to bind or anchor the ground-plate thereto, with its upper face about level with the groundsurface, and as'shown in Fig. l of the drawings. At its center the ground-plate B is provided with a series of segmental slots, D, of like number with the prongs a of the post A and a little wider than the thickness of the prongs, and made flaring downward and outward from the top of the plate, thereby providing at the center of the plate a core, d, of general conical form, which is held to the outer part or main body of the plate by the short radial ribs or webs E between the ends of the slots D. These ribs E are about as thick or a little thinner than the width of the slots first cut into the'foot of the post A, and at their upper parts the ribs are preferably cut away a little-say for a quarter of an inch downward from the top of the ground-plate-to provide recesses 6, into which enter the parts a of the post A just over the base of the slots forming the prongs a, to conceal any little irregularity in the slotting or bending of the post at the bases of the prongforming slots when the post is set in position, and also to strengthen the post at the bases of said slots.

In setting the post the groundplate B will first be placed in position and its prongs b will be driven into the ground (land the body ofthe plate may also be embedded more or less in the earth,if desired. The postA will now be placed onto the plate 13, with its' tongues a now in line with the main body of the post and their points entered into the tops of the down \vardlyflaringslots D; and when the post is driven downward the tongues will be forced outward by the conical core (I, and when the post is driven fully downward until its body portion rests on the ribs E, or into the notches c of the ribs at the bases of the slots, the tongues will be tlared outward or spread for about a foot at their points, thus giving a very good hold of the post in the ground. The wire-stringers F of the fence are entered into transverse notchesf made in the post A, and a wire, G, is then passed down the inside ofthe post and 5 outside of all the wires, or slight bends made therein, to hold the wires securely to the post, and an ornamental cap, H, preferably made or driven tightly into or onto the top of the -post, as clearly shown in the drawings.

The wire-stringers F maybe held to the posts A' in any approved way, or wooden rails or pickets may be fixed to or supported from the posts it an ordinary rail or picket fence should be preferred, as will readily be understood.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A fence-post comprising a post proper slit at the bottom to form tongues or prongs, and a ground-plate having downwardly-diverging slots forming an upwardly-tapering core, substantially as shown and described, whereby when the tongues or prongs of the post are driven through the slots of the groundplate the prongs will be diverged in the ground to lock the post in place, as herein set forth.

2. A fence-post comprising a post proper cut away at the top to provide recesses e, sub.-

stantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

LOUIS TURNBERGER.

VVitnes'ses:

HENRY L. GOODWIN, O. SEDVGWVIGK. 

